2 Peter 3 Devotion Sharing

In this passage, scoffers are saying that the day of Christ’s coming to judge will not happen at all because they haven’t seen it yet. But they are foolishly coming to this conclusion based on their narrow, limited, and personally biased perspective. Just because one doesn’t see it in his/her lifetime doesn’t mean that it will not happen at all. Their logic is so foolish because there are so many events of history that are not directly observable to us, but are entirely true facts of history.

One reason why scoffers would “deliberately forget” certain truths is because they simply don’t want to yield to the truth. This is especially when the truth spoken demands that the hearer change his/her way of life. And if the truth hurts (their ego/pride, selfish agenda, etc.), then they would rather question the validity of that truth claim or simply not think about it. These days, there are so many ways people can keep themselves distracted so that these truths are conveniently forgotten and ignored (e.g., hours of viewing of mindless entertainment on the web). In such ways, scoffers fool themselves into believing that it won’t happen and some even try to find loopholes or some inconsistency that can help ease their conscience.

But as Mark Twain once said, “It’s not the parts of the Bible that I don’t understand that disturb me, rather it’s the parts of the Bible that I do understand that disturb me.” There are many truths in the Bible that are very clear to everyone. For instance, the truth of our sins (both sins that we commit and the sin of omission—the good that we ought to have done) is something that each person bearing the proper moral conscience would readily understand. We feel guilty for the wrongs we have done, and the presence of that guilt suggests that there is One who will one day pronounce judgment on that wrong.

Truth be told, there are people who do not want to believe that there are consequences to sin, that there is a heaven and a hell, and that there is a day of reckoning when we will have to stand before God. These are the modern-day scoffers who do whatever it takes to fight the truth in a vain attempt to deliberately forget. I pray that we may not be such truth haters but rather, lovers of truth…even if it hurts.

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Submitted by Jay Park, Gracepoint Davis

2 Peter 3:4-5

The scoffers would say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?” because “everything goes on” and each day seems just like yesterday, and there is no visible sign of Christ’s coming, like a giant finger in the sky writing out God’s message. There doesn’t seem to be that judgment as God promised day after day because sinners are not getting punished but often even thriving. So they conclude that God must not be real. There is folly in such logic because they are putting God into a box, which contains their limited understanding. God is beyond us and often incomprehensible. We can’t try to explain Him away with our limited understanding/view. Who’s to say that God must reveal Himself in certain way that we like or expect?

In order to uphold their false or ungrounded belief that God’s promise won’t be fulfilled due to lack of signs, they would have to deliberately forget certain truths, like who created this world and how they came to existence. They’ll have to ignore whatever evidences that would invalidate their claims.

Those who discount God’s existence and proper position in history and their lives are also forgetting that there is judgment. Just because they don’t experience the judgment upon themselves day after day doesn’t mean it will always be as such. God’s judgment will come and that’s a sure promise. He will come in a blink of an eye. We don’t know when, but He will return and judge us. There are however signs that show us today that we have come closer than ever to the “end” of life, such as all the wickedness that describe the “end times” (2 Tim 3:1-5). And evil in this world is getting worse and worse. We hear about it on the news all the time that makes us aghast. Recently, a 11 yr old boy in Oklahoma killed himself after being bullied by other kids in school. Horror stories like this occur almost everyday.

Holding onto their false belief really reveals their shallow thinking b/c they remain only in logic that affirms their belief. They are not interested in what God really says. The deep thinkers would venture into the root of all truth rather than remaining at their emotion level—whatever suits their desire.

In certain ways, I am a scoffer. I also feel that I have a lot of time before the Judgment Day since tomorrow doesn’t “feel” like it’s the last day. How do I know? I just like to believe so; it’s an ungrounded faith. It’s almost as if I’m scoffing at the fact that Jesus can return any day. ‘Come on, today looks just like yesterday, and I’m sure tomorrow will look like today as well… I have some time. I’ll postpone really giving my all to God till I’m getting closer to death… After all, wouldn’t God want to wait longer to save as many people as possible?’ Such mentality or belief will cause me to take my time in becoming holy or giving my all to His ministry. I won’t feel much sense of urgency toward a non-Christian in front of me. If I lived as if Today is my last day or that non-Christian friend’s last day, I think I’d be a lot more intentional in all that I do, do all that I can to witness to as many people as possible, and be able to repent and strive for holy life a lot more intensely. But, it doesn’t happen because I think Christ won’t return any time soon. It’s my ungrounded, faithless, mocking, arrogant belief that needs to be repented of.